Religion in
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
is diverse, with no particular religion representing the majority of the population. According to the 2021 census,
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
(mainly
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
) is the most widely professed religion at 42.5% of the total population, while adherents of
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
(mainly
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
and
Evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
) represented 39.8% of the population. In addition, 12.6% of Ivorians reported to be
Irreligious
Irreligion or nonreligion is the absence or rejection of religion, or indifference to it. Irreligion takes many forms, ranging from the casual and unaware to full-fledged philosophies such as atheism and agnosticism, secular humanism and ant ...
and 2.2% claimed to follow
Animism
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, Soul, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct Spirituality, spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—Animal, animals, Plant, plants, Ro ...
.
According to the 2020 estimate by the Pew Research Center,
Christians
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
are the largest religious group at 44% of the total population, followed by
Muslims
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...
at 37.2% of the population. It also projected 8.1% of Ivorians to be
unaffiliated and 10.5% as adherents of
Traditional African religion
The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural ...
s.
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
is practised in a variety of forms throughout the country though mostly in the south.
Islam has been practised in the far north for roughly seven centuries, shifting in influence over time due to contact with the Muslim areas to the north and
immigration
Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...
.
Christian missionaries arrived at the coast in the 17th century but did not win converts in large numbers until the 19th century.
Christianity's appeal was strongest among educated Africans and those who sought advancement through European contact.
Local religions
Indigenous African religions offer explanations for life's dilemmas in a local cultural context.
Local religions reassure people that they are living in harmony with the universe and that this harmony can be preserved by maintaining proper relationships with all beings.
For this reason, separating religion from other aspects of life serves to distort, rather than clarify, its meaning.
Spiritual beings—a
creator,
ancestral spirits
The veneration of the dead, including one's ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of ...
, and spirits associated with places and objects—can influence a person's life and luck.
This is the major premise on which belief and practice are based.
The distinction between the spiritual and physical "worlds," in Western secular terms, is unimportant in the face of what is interpreted as overwhelming evidence that physical events may have spiritual causes.
Lineages are also important in understanding the organization of many Ivorian religions.
The spiritual unity of the descent group transcends distinctions among the unborn, the living, and the deceased.
In this context, religious differences are not based on disagreements over
doctrine
Doctrine (from la, doctrina, meaning "teaching, instruction") is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the essence of teachings in a given branch of knowledge or in a belief system ...
.
Rather, groups living in different social and physical environments encounter different spiritual and physical dangers, and their religious needs differ accordingly.
This diversity accounts, in part, for early missionaries in West Africa who often described the spiritual "chaos" they encountered, when they were actually observing different social groupings, each with different spiritual obligations to ancestral and other spirits, acting in accordance with common beliefs about the nature of the universe.
Religions of the south
Most Akan believe in a supreme being,
Nyame
Onyame, Nyankopon (Onyankapon) and Odomankoma are the trinity of the supreme god of the Akan people of Ghana, who is most commonly known as Nyame. His name means "He who knows and sees everything" and "omniscient, omnipotent sky deity" in the Ak ...
, who created all things and from whom lesser gods derive their power.
Nyame is not worshiped directly but is approached through intermediaries. These lesser gods (abosom) may inhabit lakes,
streams
A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...
, rivers, or trees.
Below them are minor deities whose power is invoked through amulets or charms (suman) worn for protection.
Ancestral spirits (samanfo) surpass these deities in importance among most Akan people, as it is the ancestors who safeguard the prosperity of the lineage and provide assistance in meeting daily challenges.
Ancestral spirits are often consulted, offered food and drink, and reminded that people are depending on them, in the hope that an individual will be able to act with confidence, especially in dealing with others in the lineage.
Failure to perform sacrifices to ancestral spirits not only damages a person spiritually but also brings forth the wrath of the ancestor and can result in tragedy or unhappiness.
An individual's spirit, or soul (elaka among the
Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
; okra among the
Abron or
Baoulé), is immortal and indestructible.
A living individual also possesses other spiritual substances, including sunsum, which is adaptable and determines a person's character, and mogya, which determines a person's membership in a matrilineage.
Through transgressions—failure to perform rituals or obey moral precepts—an individual can damage the soul or lose it entirely.
Upon death, the soul (or in some areas, part of the soul) may enter the kingdom of the dead, where its existence is happy and peaceful, or it may reenter a human being to continue on its path toward fulfillment.
Akan religious practitioners include lineage heads, village chiefs (when the head and the chief are not the same individual), and priests who officiate at ritual observances for cults honoring specific deities.
These priests (akomfo) undergo extensive training as apprentices to established practitioners.
Priests can also act as diviners, and the most esteemed among them are believed to be clairvoyant, able to locate the source of spiritual difficulty for their clients, who consult them for a fee.
They also give instructions for coping with adversity.
Priests sometimes act as doctors, since many diseases are believed to have spiritual causes.
Sorcerers (
obayifo) are spiritual practitioners who, in the Akan worldview, bring about
evil
Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...
.
Their actions are believed to be motivated by
envy
Envy is an emotion which occurs when a person lacks another's quality, skill, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it.
Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another's good fortune, stirred b ...
or hatred, and, it is feared, they may be employed by one's enemies.
Sorcery often consists of
poison
Poison is a chemical substance that has a detrimental effect to life. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figuratively, with a broa ...
ing, which may be counteracted by a priest or detected by a diviner, but one of the hazards of dealing with the spiritual realm is that sorcerers are sometimes disguised as priests or diviners.
A person may use
amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s or other objects to ward off the evil effects of sorcery, but these are sometimes powerless.
Collective religious ceremonies are important to the life of many Akan peoples.
The most important of these is the yam festival, which serves several functions.
It is a memorial service for the dead and begs for their protection in the future; it is a time of thanksgiving for good harvests; and it is a ritual of purification that helps rid the group of evil influences.
It also provides an opportunity to recall the discovery of the yam—now an important part of the diet of many Akan people—and to salute the Akan chief who, it is said, risked his life by tasting this unknown food before others in his chiefdom.
The yam festival is considered vital to the group's survival, and it serves important social functions—it defines the group, symbolizes its unity, and reminds people of their obligations to others.
Religion among the Kru peoples of the southwest resembles that of the Akan, with an important difference in the presence of a second powerful deity alongside the creator.
This second god is an evil deity or devil, who works against the creator god, producing a duality that is an important theme in Kru culture.
All individuals exhibit a balance of good and evil, in this view, and maintaining this balance is important both to the individual and to the entire universe.
Religions of the north
Northern religions contain the notion of dual deities found in the southwest, although the two often complement rather than oppose each other.
Ancestral spirits are especially important, because it is believed that they can directly influence an individual's fortunes in this life.
The
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount (lexicographer), Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in ...
of the Mandé peoples of the northwest is described in their myth of origin, variants of which are retold throughout the region.
The myth recounts God's creation of the universe and of four sets of twins from seeds.
They were commanded to populate the earth and teach their offspring how to grow crops.
They used the first music to plead for rain, and the Niger River was formed from the resulting series of floods.
Each area along the river is associated with a wild animal that either prevented the sowing of seeds or protected the fields.
Features of the river and surrounding terrain are also associated with activities of the first ancestors, reinforcing the bond between the group's spiritual existence and the land—a bond that has confused foreign missionaries, government officials, and development workers in recent decades.
In Lobi society in the northeast,
divination
Divination (from Latin ''divinare'', 'to foresee, to foretell, to predict, to prophesy') is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic, standardized process or ritual. Used in various forms throughout histor ...
is important as a means of determining the cause of death, disease, or other misfortune.
Diviners do not predict the future; rather, they prescribe a course of action that emphasizes accepted social values in an effort to help people cope with present-day dilemmas.
The diviner's role is similar to that of a counselor or confessor, who reminds people of the need to maintain proper relationships with all beings and provides them with a new perspective on relationships that have gone wrong.
Secret societies
A secret society is a club or an organization whose activities, events, inner functioning, or membership are concealed. The society may or may not attempt to conceal its existence. The term usually excludes covert groups, such as intelligence a ...
are found in several areas of northern Ivory Coast.
They serve important functions in the initiation and education of the young, and they provide vehicles for preserving beliefs about the past.
Senior members are responsible for ritual instruction of new members and for the observance of funerals and ceremonies to ensure agricultural prosperity.
Blacksmiths have secret societies of their own, and in some areas this occupational group is believed to have special spiritual powers. Medical and ritual specialists also undergo apprenticeships with established practitioners, thereby reinforcing their status.
World religions
Islam
![Kong2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Kong2.jpg)
Most Ivoirian Muslims are Sunni, following the
Maliki
The ( ar, مَالِكِي) school is one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century. The Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary ...
school of
Islamic law
Sharia (; ar, شريعة, sharīʿa ) is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam and is based on the sacred scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran and the ...
.
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...
, involving the organization of mystical brotherhoods (''
tariqa
A tariqa (or ''tariqah''; ar, طريقة ') is a school or order of Sufism, or specifically a concept for the mystical teaching and spiritual practices of such an order with the aim of seeking ''haqiqa'', which translates as "ultimate truth".
...
'') for the purification and spread of Islam, is also widespread, laced with
indigenous
Indigenous may refer to:
*Indigenous peoples
*Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention
*Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band
*Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...
beliefs and practices.
The four major Sufi brotherhoods are all represented in Ivory Coast, although the
Qadiriya
The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
, founded in the eleventh century, and the
Tidjaniya, founded in the eighteenth century, are most popular.
The Qadiriya is prevalent in the west, and the Tidjaniya, in the east.
The other two major Islamic brotherhoods have few adherents in Ivory Coast.
The
Senoussiya is identified with Libya, where its influence is substantial.
The
Ahmadiyya
Ahmadiyya (, ), officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ, ar, الجماعة الإسلامية الأحمدية, al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmīyah al-Aḥmadīyah; ur, , translit=Jamā'at Aḥmadiyyah Musl ...
, a sect originating in nineteenth-century India, is the only non-Sunni order in Ivory Coast.
The significant religious authority is the
marabout
A marabout ( ar, مُرابِط, murābiṭ, lit=one who is attached/garrisoned) is a Muslim religious leader and teacher who historically had the function of a chaplain serving as a part of an Islamic army, notably in North Africa and the Saha ...
.
He is believed to be a miracle worker, a
physician
A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
, and a
mystic, who exercises both
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
al and
moral authority Moral authority is authority premised on principles, or fundamental truths, which are independent of written, or positive, laws. As such, moral authority necessitates the existence of and adherence to truth. Because truth does not change, the princi ...
.
He is also respected as a dispenser of
amulet
An amulet, also known as a good luck charm or phylactery, is an object believed to confer protection upon its possessor. The word "amulet" comes from the Latin word amuletum, which Pliny's ''Natural History'' describes as "an object that protects ...
s, which protect the wearer—Muslim or non-Muslim—against evil.
The influence of marabouts has produced a number of reactions in Ivoirian society, among them a series of reformist movements inspired by
Wahhabi
Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...
st puritanism, which originated in nineteenth-century
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
.
These reform movements often condemn Sufism and marabouts as un-Islamic.
Hamallism began as an Islamic reform movement in the
French Sudan
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...
early in the twentieth century, and has provided a channel for expressing political and religious discontent.
Its founder,
Hamallah Shaykh Shekna Ahmeda Hamahullah ben Muhammad ben Seydina Umar (born 1882) was a Sufi Muslim religious leader, born in French Soudan (modern Mali) and died in France after being arrested and sent into exile in 1933 by the colonial government of Frenc ...
, was exiled from the French Sudan to Ivory Coast during the 1930s.
He preached Islamic reform tempered by tolerance of many local practices, but he condemned many aspects of Sufism.
Orthodox brotherhoods were able to convince the French authorities in Ivory Coast that Hamallah had been responsible for earlier political uprisings in the French Sudan.
Authorities then expelled Hamallah from Ivory Coast and banned his teachings.
According to the 2021 census, about 42.5% of the population is Muslim, making Islam the largest religion in the country. Between the 2014 and 2021 censuses, the Muslim share of the population slightly decreased from 42.9% to 42.5%.
This coincides with the declining share of foreign migrant workers, most of whom being Muslim.
Christianity
About one-eighth of the population was Christian in the 1980s;
more recent estimates put the proportion of Christians at about 32.6% of the population. In general, Christianity is practiced by the middle class and in urban centers of the south.
It is most prevalent among the Agni and Lagoon cultures of the southeast, least so among the
Mandé of the northwest.
Roman Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
is the largest Christian denomination, but
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
,
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
, and a number of smaller mission churches also exist.
Between the 2014 and 2021 censuses, the Christian share of the population increased from 33.9%
to 39.8%.
Baháʼí Faith
The
Baháʼí Faith
The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
was first established in the country in the 1950s and given a push in 1990 of the arrival of about 200 Liberian refugees, by 1993 there was a small community of around 1000 Baháʼís living under the guidance of 25
local spiritual assemblies in Ivory Coast.
Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
has a small presence in the country.
The
Ananda Marga
Ānanda Mārga ("The Path of Bliss", also spelled Anand Marg and Ananda Marg) or officially Ānanda Mārga Pracāraka Saṃgha (organization for the propagation of the path of bliss), is a world-wide socio-spiritual organisation founded in J ...
runs a school in
Abidjan
Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
. There is a Brahmakumari Ashram and a Satya Saibaba Group in Abidjan. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (
ISKCON
The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), known colloquially as the Hare Krishna movement or Hare Krishnas, is a Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu religious organization. ISKCON was founded in 1966 in New York City by A. C. Bhaktive ...
) has a presence in this country.
There are about 250 families of Indians in
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
, most of them businessmen of
Sindhi and
Gujarati
Gujarati may refer to:
* something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India
* Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat
* Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them
* Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub- ...
origin, professionals in trading and manufacturing companies owned by
NRI-PIOs and officials working with the UN.
Indian Community in Ivory Coast
/ref>
Syncretic religions
Both Islam and Christianity have been adapted to indigenous religions in a variety of ways. Beyond these localized versions of world religions, however, are complex systems of belief and practice that incorporate many elements of more than one religion. Most widely recognized among these syncretic religions are numerous offshoots of Harrism along the coast, where new prophets, preachers, and disciples blend traditional beliefs, Harrism, and modern-day political advice to help deal with the problems of everyday life.
Syncretic religions are generally more common among minorities in a particular area or among groups that perceive themselves to be resisting political domination by their neighbors. The Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
have remained heavily Catholic, for example, whereas the neighboring Baoulé have evolved a variety of syncretisms, following prophets that promise good fortune as a reward for allegiance to them. Small groups in the far northeast have also evolved a variety of belief systems to maintain their traditions, incorporate selected aspects of Islam, and resist domination by outsiders.
Relations between religions
Religious communities generally coexist peacefully. No world religion has been embraced by a majority of people. Conversions have been an individual matter in most cases, and many families include Muslims and Christians living together. Religious tolerance is also part of government policy. The president personally contributes to the cost of building mosques and churches, and he encourages both Muslims and Christians to assist in projects undertaken by other religious communities. Religious practitioners have also earned substantial goodwill through the services they offer their communities, especially in health and education, and by their overall contribution to social harmony.
The Constitution calls for a secular state
A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a State (polity), state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state claims to treat all its citizens ...
, although this is not interpreted as strict separation of church and state. Officials often attend religious ceremonies as representatives of the state, and some mission schools receive government aid. Missionaries are generally welcomed throughout the nation, although their teachings seldom replace centuries-old systems of spiritual belief and practice that form the basis of cultural unity.
Demographics
Census data
Other estimations
Notes
See also
* Abonsam
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Religion In Cote D'ivoire